Donald Trump banned from Facebook for at least two years
Former US President Donald Trump has been banned from Facebook until at least 2023 after months of debate.
The social media company’s independent oversight board upheld Trump’s decision last month, which was enforced in the wake of the Capitol riots over concerns his posts were inciting violence.
However the board ruled the decision was “not appropriate… to impose the indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension.” It was given six months to determine a “proportionate response”.
“Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols,” Facebook said today.
“At the end of this period, we will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded. We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest. If we determine that there is still a serious risk to public safety, we will extend the restriction for a set period of time and continue to re-evaluate until that risk has receded.”
Trump was suspended from several major tech platforms including Youtube, Snapchat and Twitter, which has since made its ban permanent.
Facebook’s decision comes just hours after it was hit with two antitrust investigations by the UK and EU regulations.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will examine whether the company gained an unfair advantage over rivals through how it gathers and uses data for classified ads and online dating services.
Meanwhile the European Commission launched a formal probe into whether Facebook violated EU rules by using the data it gathers from advertisers to compete with them in other markets such as classified ads.